ANAHEIM, Calif._A day that began with a sobering departure for the Angels ended with an arrival most intoxicating.
"When I touched second base," Francisco Arcia said, "I almost cried."
After 12 years in the minors, the 28-year-old catcher made his major league debut Thursday, homering for his first hit and driving in four runs in a 12-8 Angels win over the Chicago White Sox.
Arcia was promoted from triple-A Salt Lake to fill a roster spot vacated by Martin Maldonado, who was traded in the morning to the Houston Astros in a move more about winning in the future than now.
The rookie arrived at Angel Stadium after a sleepless night of anticipation, sat down at his locker and was told that he was in the starting lineup.
His reaction: "Oh, wow."
Before seeing his first big-league pitch, Arcia appeared for 11 teams in nine leagues, played 584 games and batted 1,943 times.
"It's awesome," teammate Justin Upton said. "To grind that long and get the opportunity to get here, he took full advantage of it."
After lining out, walking and striking out his first three times up, Arcia came to the plate in the seventh with two runners on. He drove a fastball from reliever Juan Minaya an estimated 391 feet from the plate and over the wall in right field.
As he reached first base, he raised his right hand, he explained later, in salute to his grandmother. By the time his foot hit second, Arcia was holding back tears.
"Amazing," he said. "Great moment. I waited too long for this."
An inning later, when Arcia added an RBI single, he became the 13th player in American League history and the first Angel to drive in four runs in his debut.
After it was over, Arcia's postgame on-field television interview was interrupted when Mike Trout and Andrelton Simmons dumped buckets of water over his head.
